Hammer of God (Kirov Series Book 14) (9 page)

Up above, one of the X-3s was
observing and putting in additional fire support when they noted the movement
by the British troops. Popski was just behind the advancing Marines, listening
on a headset that had been given him, delighted with the gizmo. Troyak had
showed him how to pinch off the send button when he needed to communicate with
the Sergeant, and now he called up with the news that friendly troops would soon
be on their left.

Troyak stood up, raising a fist
to halt his men, and he looked to see the Argonauts had done the same. He took
a look at the enemy troops fleeing madly before their advance and knew the hour
was won. There was no point pressing the attack now, and it was decided to
leave the action to the Kings Own Rifles, and the Number 4 Company of the
Assyrians who came rushing in for support. He ordered his men to go to ground,
dark shadows that suddenly seemed to be swallowed by the earth. Then, with
precise and well coordinated movements, the fire teams broke off and withdrew
towards a pre-designated position where they were to meet up with the
helicopters.

Their work here was done.

Twenty minutes later they boarded
in a storm of dust, rising up into the desert night. Popski’s cheeks were red
with the cold night air and the exhilaration of the action he had witnessed.

“Damn good MGs on these birds,”
he said to Troyak. “And where can I get me one of those handy rifles of yours?”

The Sergeant handed him his own
assault rifle. “I’ll have to show you how it operates, but with a little
training you’ll fall in love with that in no time.”

Popski nodded, looking down onto
the plateau that was now a broiling, smoking scene of devastation. Of the
thirty guns the Iraqis had brought in to shell the base, twenty seven were
destroyed or captured. The three that escaped had been moved earlier by trucks
to the far side of the Euphrates. The Kings Own Rifles reached the scene in
utter amazement, and groups of weeping Iraqis fell at their feet to beg for
mercy. Colonel Roberts two companies quickly had over 500 prisoners, and the
rest were fleeing madly east, their war on the British over for the moment.

The four helos turned west into
the night, their mission plan now calling them back to Tango-1 just across the
Jordanian border. There they would suck up the last of the aviation fuel they
had ferried in earlier, and begin the ride to Palestine. Along the way they saw
the long column of King Column en route to the relief of RAF Habbaniyah. They
would leave the rest of the action there to the British who would now try to use
the tiny garrison and these small flying columns to good effect, relieving the
base, and then toppling the incipient rebellion of Rashid Ali and sending the
German Ambassador fleeing to Mosul.

But it was far from over. When he
got news of the rout of the Iraqi Army at Habbaniyah, he could hardly believe
it. He was immediately on the phone to higher authorities, his voice angry in
the night. “It’s the British!” he exclaimed. “They have driven off all the troops
we sent to capture Habbaniyah, and now I have word more units have arrived from
India at Basra. They will be coming for Baghdad next! You must launch your
operation immediately, before we lose everything here!”

Then he stormed away to his motor
car and the long ride to Mosul. But “Operation Anvil,” a plan that had been
simmering in the mind of the Führer for some days now, would become a timely
reprisal to face the emergency, and the hammer was about to fall.

Chapter
9

The
mobile force arrived
in Palestine amid the final preparations for Operation Scimitar. It had taken
two weeks to move all the troops into position. The entire Australian 7th
Division, all three brigades, was now positioned south of the Lebanese border.
The troops had been advised to lay low, with all leave cancelled, and even told
to remove their characteristic hats so as not to be identified as Australians.
Fedorov knew this force was now a third stronger than the old history, where
only two brigades of the division had been available for Operation Exporter. It
would be the main advance on Beirut up the coast road and as far inland as the
Jordan River. Additional support here would come from the Royal Scotts Greys
and Stafford Yeomanry battalions, moving up the road from Haifa in universal
carriers and trucks.

Further east, the 5th Brigade of
the 4th Indian Division was assembling in Jordan near the town of Irbid. It’s
mission was to cross the Syrian border and seize Daraa, the town where the
fabled Lawrence of Arabia had been captured and tortured by the Turks in the
First World War. From there they would drive north, providing the right flank
defense for the central column, where the Free French had two brigades.

This column would drive through
Golan and up the main road to Damascus, but Fedorov knew these units had not
been as effective as hoped, and so the troops sent by Brigadier Kinlan for
“Sabre Force” would be assigned here. The French column would be led by
Kinlan’s tough Gurkha battalion, and the three troops of Scimitar tanks. It was
here also that the X-3s would operate as a fire support unit, and both the
Argonauts and Troyak’s force would advance on the ground with the Gurkhas.
Kinlan had provided some Dragon AFVs for transport for the Fairchild men and
the Russian Marines by pulling from HQ troops in his brigade. The Gurkhas were
going in British trucks. The Attack was set for the pre-dawn hours of March 12,
and began with every hope of achieving a rapid success.

They would be up against about
twenty battalions of French Colonial troops. Fedorov had been able to lay out
the entire order of battle for the Vichy French in Syria. It was a mottled
collection of troops from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, local Circassian cavalry,
and other tribal forces. There was one regular regiment of French Infantry, and
four good battalions of the Foreign Legion that would prove to be tough,
veteran troops. They also had many battalions of artillery, mostly 75mm
howitzers, and 90 R-35 French tanks in the 6th and 7th African Chasseurs. Another
36 older FT17 tanks dating back to WWI were also available from the training
schools. These added to a good number of old “White” armored cars, gave them a
little mechanized punch, and there were plenty of trucks in the Levant to give
their forces good mobility.

All in all, the Allied force had
been strengthened by no more than a single Australian brigade and Kinlan’s
troops, so Fedorov still expected a tough fight. He had every confidence that
the British would now master the situation in Iraq, but did they have five
weeks to slug through the rugged terrain of Syria and subdue the Vichy French?
These were the last questions discussed before Churchill departed for England,
a new lightness in his step with the godsend he had received from a distant
future.

As for Fedorov, he was now back
aboard
Kirov
at Alexandria on the eve of the operation, where the
British fleet was consolidating and replenishing. Admiral Cunningham would be
assigning two small task forces to support the operation as it moved up the
coast. Two light cruisers would operate on the first days of the attack,
designated Force A for the lead cruiser
Ajax,
along with
Phoebe
and six destroyers. They would escort the
Glengyle,
with three sections
of Royal Marine Commandos, the No. 11 Scottish Commando tasked with trying to
seize the coastal bridge over the Litani and interdicting the movement of enemy
reinforcements down that road. It was this ill-fated operation that Fedorov had
shared with Churchill when he tried to advise him on the difficulties of this campaign.
Now he hoped the troops would fare better this time around.

If heavier support was needed,
the heavy cruisers
Kent
and
York
were assigned as Force K, with
four more destroyers. The battleships would stand ready at Alexandria to sortie
in the event there was any sign of heavy units operating on the other side,
though intelligence still had most of the Axis capital ships in Toulon and La
Spezia. Tovey viewed the movement of
Jean Bart
and
Richelieu
to
Toulon with some misgiving, as he knew there was yet another day of reckoning
with the French Fleet, and the question of who ruled the waters of the Eastern
Mediterranean had not yet been decided.

With only
Invincible
and
Warspite
now operational at Alexandria, the enemy still had a considerable advantage in
big ships, even if several were still mending bruises and damage sustained in
the last confrontation. For the moment, the presence of
Kirov
and
Argos
Fire
was heartening, though he did not know how long he could hope to rely
on those ships. So he took Churchill’s suggestion and decided to send for both
Rodney
and
Nelson
, leaving Somerville only the
Valiant
in Force H, as
there was no longer a major threat from the French at Casablanca. The plodding
battleships would be ten days steaming to Cape Town at 18 knots, and then
another twelve days to Alexandria. With time for refueling at Cape Town, they
would not arrive until the 5th of April.

* * *

The
first word that
British intelligence had of “Operation Anvil” had come from wireless intercepts
from the
Hindenburg,
when Lütjens had used the name. Analysts thought it
might refer to Crete, as the course set by the Franco-German fleet had been
heading that direction before the recent engagement. Yet now the sudden buildup
of planes on the Italian outpost island of Rhodes gave them second thoughts.

The Italians had controlled the
Dodecanese Islands off Turkey since a treaty had ceded them the territory in
1911. Rhodes had been built up into a major aerodrome and military base, and
there were fine airfields on Karpathos, and also on Leros, along with an
excellent deep water port that prompted Mussolini to call the place “The
Corregidor of the Mediterranean.”

JU-52 transport planes had been
flocking to these islands, heavily escorted by German fighters, and landing at
Klathos in the south, and at Maritsa in the north. British
Gladiators
had a look at the airlift, but were quickly driven off, and with only six
operational
Hurricanes
on Crete, the R.A.F could not impede the
operation, which looked to be a prelude for the German invasion of their own
island. The force being moved was considerable, and there was also frenetic
activity now observed at airfields all over Greece, and in the Dodecanese
Islands at Kos.

That same night a number of fast
cruisers and destroyers had sortied from Toulon, where the Vichy French fleet
had been reinforced with the recall of ships from Casablanca. That far distant
port was still a valuable outpost on the Atlantic, but after the losses they
had sustained in the action against the British, Admiral Darlan had decided to
consolidate his naval strength at Toulon. So it was that the powerful
battleships
Richelieu
and
Jean Bart
slipped out of the harbor and
raced north to Gibraltar, too fast to be caught by
Rodney
and
Nelson
.
With HMS
Glorious
ordered south around the Cape of Good Hope, there was
no Fleet Air Arm to speak of with Somerville’s Force H, as his relief carrier,
Ark
Royal
, had not yet arrived from Home Fleet. The French took advantage and
stole a march on the British, moving the two battleships, several cruisers and
many super-destroyers to Toulon. There they made hasty preparations for the
operation now underway, a plan that was to shift the history of the war in a sudden
new direction.

So it was that the pieces were
set for the opening of the battle that would soon decide the fate of events in
the Middle East. Operation Scimitar was just about to begin, but the Germans
had not been sitting idle, at least not the Führer, and he now had grand ideas
of his own.

* * *

Hitler
had fretted over
the strategy for some time, with the whispers and urging of Ivan Volkov in his
ear, and the irritating disagreements of his senior officers at OKW. He became
so frustrated at one point that he very nearly decided to call off the entire
operation, preferring to husband all the units assigned for Barbarossa. It was
then that he spoke with Erich von Manstein, listening to his cogent appraisal
of the situation, and his assessment of the southern flank on the Black Sea
wing of the big invasion plan. Then he determined that by using a few divisions
now, before Barbarossa launched, he might make some considerable territorial
gains, and intimidate the stubborn Turks into submission.

When I have Turkey in a vise of
steel, he thought, with troops secure on every quarter, then we will see if
they continue to equivocate. He gave orders that another Korps from the
southern wing of Barbarossa would stage on the Turkish frontier, and then
assembled OKW to order a new operation, bearing the same old code name to fool
the British— Anvil.

The Germans still had a strong
hammer that had already proven itself against the obstinate island of Malta.
Student’s 7th Flieger Division had taken the British stronghold in seven days.
Now only Crete and Cyprus remained as strong British outposts in the Eastern
Med, and all the territory of Greece and her many islands in the Aegean had
fallen under the Axis shadow. Rommel had been driven back, an annoyance that
still embittered the Führer, but the bold plan in his mind had fired his
imagination again. When German intelligence got word that the British were
shifting an infantry division from Mersa Matruh east towards Palestine, Hitler
decided to act. He called in all the senior officers and staff of OKW, his eyes
glaring at the map table as he spoke.

“The 1st Mountain Division
scheduled for deployment in North Africa will not be sent there,” he said
firmly. “I want it on the trains at once, and move it to Athens. As for the 5th
Mountain Division, already in Greece, move it here.” He pointed to the deep
water port of Lakki at Leros. “I have already secured rights from Mussolini,
and we have captured all the shipping we need from the Greeks. The convoy will
operate at night to forestall any interference from the British.”

“Rommel was expecting that
division,” said Keitel.

“He already has two elite
motorized brigades with Grossdeutschland and Goering’s troops,” said Hitler. “That,
with the 90th motorized should be more than enough, and even that may be too
much. He is sitting a thousand kilometers from Suez at the moment, and it will
be some time before he can get these new forces situated and supplied for an
offensive. We must make good use of that time to keep the pressure on the
British. So now I will move Student’s entire Fliegerkorps to Rhodes.”

“What?” Halder was shocked by the
sudden news. “As an occupation force? But my Führer, that island is already
garrisoned by the Italians. We do not need German troops there.”

“Do not argue with me, Halder.
No. This is not an occupation force. The troops are merely staging there for
the operation I will now describe to you—Operation Anvil.”

Keitel looked askance at Halder,
for that was the code word that had been assigned to the aborted bombardment
run against the British held ports on the coast of northern Crete. Now he spoke
to support Halder. “The Navy is still making repairs at Toulon. They are not
ready to attempt such a mission again.”

“The navy? I’ve said nothing of
the navy.” Hitler rankled at the mention of the Kriegsmarine, the damage to
both
Hindenburg
and
Bismarck
still sore spots. “Let the ships sit
in port for all I care. We will use the Luftwaffe this time, and the results
will be far better.”

Halder shook his head. “Student’s
troops can reach Crete easily enough from our existing bases in Greece. There
is no need to stage them on Rhodes. 8th and 11th Fliegerkorps are all poised
for
Unternehmen Merkur
at this moment. This will only cause delays and
upset the entire timetable.”

“Because we are not attacking
Crete!” Hitler nearly shouted at him now, the glow of fury in his eyes. “My
Generals sit and argue with one another, and make all these plans to move my
troops about as they wish. Yet they often do so without thinking first! Do you
think I am blind and deaf? I have listened to your bickering and scheming for
too long, Halder. Your plans have infected the entire General Staff! You wanted
a repeat of the Von Schlieffen plan in France, until Manstein voiced his
opposition and designed the stroke through the Ardennes that was the undoing of
the entire French defense. Now you plan the very same thing for Barbarossa! The
forces are too heavily allocated to the north, and I see you have gotten rid of
Manstein by sending his 56th Panzer Korps there. Well I have news for you. I am
moving that Korps to the southern wing as well, and appointing Manstein as the
senior commander for the drive on the Crimea. That is to be our primary
objective for the first phase of Barbarossa, not Moscow. We will not turn north
until we have linked up with Ivan Volkov’s troops.”

Halder reddened under the insults
Hitler had flung his way, and was galled to hear the name Manstein come up
again in these deliberations. The mention of Volkov rankled as well. It was
enough that Raeder had laid out this whole plan for the conquest of the
Mediterranean, and now Volkov was poisoning the Führer’s mind with his constant
predictions and pleas for assistance. This sudden change in the plan threatened
to unhinge all the careful deliberations they had made concerning Barbarossa.